Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is riding a red wave of his own, no doubt in part due to his political stunt involving the 50 migrants he manipulated into taking flights to Martha’s Vineyard on Sept. 14.
Despite his misuse of taxpayer money intended for coronavirus relief to fund these flights, the egregious price that was paid ($1.5 million, according to court documents), and the fact that these migrants weren’t even in Florida at the time of the stunt, DeSantis won an overwhelming victory in his re-election campaign for governor.
And as former President Donald Trump sinks lower and lower — the Jan. 6 Congressional committee recommending that charges be brought against him for his role in the insurrection and the ongoing investigation into the top-secret documents found at Mar-a-Lago — DeSantis has emerged as the Republican frontrunner for 2024. (We don’t want to think about that election yet, but we would be foolish not to pay attention.)
Here’s what the New York Times wrote about DeSantis the morning after the Nov. 8 election: “Right now it looks as if DeSantis will be able to sell himself as the Republican who overperformed amid general underperformance, the only Republican who fully exploited the openings the Biden Democrats gave the G.O.P., the Republican who actually achieved the kind of realigning victory that Trumpism’s theoreticians kept promising was just around the corner.”
Trump has already announced that he’s running in 2024, perhaps a pre-emptive strike because he knew that his role on Jan. 6 was likely going to turn into criminal charges. He has also threatened to spill the dirt on DeSantis should the Florida governor decide to run for president.
What DeSantis did on Sept. 14 won’t lose him any votes among the Republican party.
And it certainly hasn’t been much of a deterrent to others, as the exploitation of migrants continues. On Christmas Eve, cold-hearted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent three busloads of migrants to Washington, D.C., where they were dropped off in the vicinity of where Vice President Kamala Harris lives.
Criminal investigations continue into what transpired in San Antonio on Sept. 14, and the misleading tactics used to lure the migrants to board planes bound for Martha’s Vineyard — a stunt filmed for the Fox News audience to “own the libs.”
As we continue to remind the national electorate that DeSantis was behind this taxpayer-funded exploitation, we also have to continue to correct the lies spouted by DeSantis, Abbott, and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and their followers, who persist in saying that Martha’s Vineyard turned the migrants away. Months later, we continue to get the occasional tweet or email from DeSantis supporters claiming that Vineyarders are hypocrites, with colorful language folded into their comments. They use the word “deported,” when what really happened is that the 50 individuals were treated with compassion and care as dozens of volunteers came to their aid, a church was opened to provide respite, and meals were donated by the Island’s restaurants.
Some of the migrants, even after being moved to a temporary shelter at Joint Base Cape Cod, have returned to the Island to live. Others remain on Cape Cod, or have gone to other cities where they have family or friends ready to assist them in finding work and permanent housing.
But this is not a party that ever lets facts get in the way of a way to ramp up their base.
We understand that there is an immigration crisis, but DeSantis, Abbott, and Cruz aren’t interested in being part of the solution. They’re interested in exploiting the issue for political gain.
We can — and must — play a role in continuing to remind the electorate that these politicians used vulnerable men, women, and children as political pawns. That’s something to be condemned, not celebrated.
The island should be ashamed as to how we handled the illegal immigrants sent here. First of all the Biden administration is flying these illegals to airports all over the country, usually in the middle of the night.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10448165/Leaked-video-shows-illegal-migrants-landing-Westchester-airport-secret-charter-flight.html
This is a national crisis that each city and town has an obligation to help out. These people are being put up at taxpayer expense all over the country at inns and hotels and shelters and wherever we can find a bed for them. The island had plenty of space to house 47 people but not the will to deal with the ongoing costs of feeding, housing, and educating the children of these immigrants. We failed, we passed the buck to other less wealthy towns and put the burden on them. Absolutely shameful.
too bad that when he was president, trump never helped those border states out by transporting any of the legal asylum seekers out of those crowded border towns.
And I guess the deplorable conditions that he dommed them to on the Mexican side of the border in violation of U.S and international law really don’t matter… Who cares if a few thousand people are raped and die on our doorstep ? Only lazy “do gooders” I suppose care about that.
America is the greatest country in the world, so we can just ignore morality and international law, right ?
And wasn’t it great a few weeks ago when the gov of Texas dropped nearly 100 people off in front of the vice president’s house clothed in t shirts and shorts in 18 degree weather with a wind chill of zero, and no warning to any agencies ?
I’ll bet that made your hard working self proud.
Wow— that’s almost as good as separating parents from their toddlers and sending them off to some sort of child trafficking ring with no way to ever reunite the families.
It was freezing at the border as well. Where should these people go?
I don’t know about the migrants, but I would contribute money to a fund that would pay for homeless people in those northern cities that are riddled with crime to be dropped off in front of Mara leggo or Governor Desanctimonious’s house.
All voluntarily of course.
And I think it would be good to give them return tickets in the spring.
Please, John, put the whip down– That horse is quite dead, and you are quite wrong.
The people of MV did a remarkable job in responding to the ridiculous stunt pulled by that loathesome individual named Desantis. Your choice to ignore reality is duly noted, and seems to be a pattern with you.
DeSantis is the man..
Do you mean Desanctimonious ?
No. Clearly I mean Ron Desantia. Don’t you read the article?
Who is Ron Desantia ?
I read the article, again– no mention of him.
If we ignore the border issues, they will not be a problem.
When we finally return to one party rule, it will/may be addressed.
One party rule is best.
It works out so well Russia, China and North Korea.
No problems with malcontents like BLM, ANTIFA and QANON.
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